LUBBOCK, Texas -
University of Washington forward Jon Brockman is among five of the nation's premier basketball players who are finalists for the Chip Hilton Player of the Year Award, presented by Chip Hilton Sports and the National Association of Basketball Coaches Sunday at the Final Four in Detroit.

Chip Hilton Sports began presenting the awards in 1997 as a way to honor outstanding excellence and character in college basketball during the season. The Selection Committee is composed of: Dan Beebe, Jay Bilas, Dave Gavitt, Bob Hammel, Bob Knight, Pat Knight, Billy Packer, Dean Smith, and Dick Vitale.

Brockman joins A.J. Abrams of Texas, Tyler Hansbrough of North Carolina, Jason holsinger of Evansville and Brett Winkelman of North Dakota State as the award finalists.

The Chip Hilton Player of the Year Award honors a senior Division I men's player who demonstrates outstanding character, leadership, and talent similar to the qualities evident in the 24-book Chip Hilton sports fiction series. The books authored by Clair Bee enjoyed their first popularity in the late 1940s through the mid-1960s and were updated and re-released to a new generation of readers in 1999.

Coach Clair F. Bee, the late Long Island University coach and Hall of Famer, compiled a .826 lifetime winning percentage, still the best in major-college coaching history. Known as the "Innovator", Clair Bee's influence on the game also extended to strategies, (1-3-1 zone defense), (3-second rule), sports camps (Camp All-America), (Kutsher's Sports Academy), writing technical coaching books, and conducting coaching clinics around the world.

By the time he left coaching in the 1950s, Clair Bee had already begun writing the Chip Hilton Sports Series, which is considered the top sports fiction series ever written.

Last season's Chip Hilton Award winner was of Mike Green of Butler University.
Bob McKillop of Davidson College was the 2008 Clair Bee Award winner.